The big collector car auctions in Arizona kick off this week — any world record sales in the offing?

Each January, there are the big classic and antique car auctions in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. It’s a little like the August auction mania at Pebble Beach, but without the world famous Pebble Beach concours.

Cars sold at auction frequently bring astronomical prices — witness the Fangio W196 Mercedes-Benz race car that sold for nearly $30 million last year. So the question is whether these prices will keep going up. Some thoughts about all this in this Autoweek piece.

Gooding & Co. will have wares from a 1957 MGA (estimate $35,000-$50,000) to a 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail (estimate $5 million to $7 million), with a sprinkling of other goodies in between (1929 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton, $2 million to $3 million.)